In the beginning, God forbids Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of knowledge. A pattern that has not changed over the millennia: The history of knowledge, as Ernst Peter Fischer shows us, is always also a history of its suppression. He tells the story of Giordano Bruno, who ended up on the pyre for his knowledge of the universe, and of Leonardo da Vinci, who concealed his anatomical studies to avoid conflict with the Church. But these examples also show: Knowledge cannot be permanently prohibited. One must not forget the dark side, for knowledge, as Francis Bacon noted, also means power. How would the 20th century have unfolded if the inventors of the atomic bomb had kept their discoveries to themselves? What about embryonic research today – shouldn't this knowledge be regulated? And is it even possible to prohibit it in the age of hyper-information? Ernst Peter Fischer narrates knowledgeably and thrillingly about the pioneers of truth, but also about the persecution they often faced. We understand what knowledge can truly achieve – and why humanity has always strived for understanding.